Ali Meriç was born on April 3, 1959 in Alaşehir district of Manisa. After completing his primary and secondary education in the region where he was born and his high school education at Izmir Atatürk High School, he graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Languages, History and Geography, Department of Theatre.
After working for a short time at the "Yeni Ulus" newspaper in 1977, he stepped into Ankara Children's Theater (ACT). In 1980, he wrote and staged two children's plays for Swedish television, and a year later he participated in the International Children's and Youth Theater Festival of AÇT and Germany's Grips Theater.
In 1982, he prepared the weekly humorous column "Gülen Ege" in the Aegean supplement of Milliyet newspaper; In 1983, he moved to Ankara Art Theater (AST). Starting from 1984, he started writing children's programs for TRT and taking part in the same programs. In 1985, he wrote the TV series "Bizim Yuvamiz" with Ayşe Nil Şamlıoğlu, and in 1986 he wrote the TV series "Tele Kabare".
In the same year, he acted at the State Theaters Ankara Children and Youth Theater and later worked at Ankara and Bursa State Theatres. He took writing lessons from Turgut Özakman and published humorous articles and stories in various newspapers and magazines such as Cumhuriyet, Milliyet, Gırgır, Tan (Macedonia), Dünya.
The artist, also known by the pseudonym "Hayali Ali Meriç", wrote and staged karagöz plays for Flash TV in 1991, with his work on traditional Turkish theatre. In 1993, he served as the committee secretary of the 1st National Bursa Karagöz Festival, and then wrote and directed shadow and karagöz plays. Meriç, a member of international and local art organizations such as Assitej, Unima and Tobav, has been working as an actor and director at Antalya State Theater since 1995. He is married and has two children, Bilge İpek and Adil.
Meriç, who won many awards throughout her artistic life, came second in the Akşehir Nasreddin Hoca Gülmece Story Writing Competition in 1978 and 1980, success in the Tobav Play Writing Competition in 1983, third place in the Turkish Grand National Assembly Children's Play Competition in 1986, and first place in the TRT Children's Radio Play Competition in 1989.
In the same year, he was given the Commended Actor Award by the Ankara Art Association for his role as the Doctor in Lope de Vega's play "Crazy World". In 2002, the Theater Critics Circle presented him with the Best Actor Award for his role as Švejk in Jaroslav Hašek's play "Švejk the Lion Soldier".
In his writing career, he staged plays such as "Tembel", "Bremen Mızıkacıları" (with Salih Kalyon), "Çıtırköy", "Haşarı Fare", "Gozort" (with Metin Balay), "Doctor Bear Bobo" and "Once Upon a Time". These works were performed in various state and city theaters.
Productions in which he took part
- Name: Zehra (2018) — İsmail Şimşek
- Kümes (2015) — Bedir
- Threshold (2017)
- Call Me Hicran Now (2014)
- While My Mother Was Sleeping (2012) — Necip
- Eyyvah Eyvah 3 (2014)
Production and imprint information was taken from TMDB.
